


A Change of Fate

by Aeruthin



Series: s3x19+ AU [2]
Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Cami Lives AU, Episode Fix-it, Fix-It, Gen, Introspection, Vampires, What Could Have Been, What Should Have Been
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeruthin/pseuds/Aeruthin
Summary: 3x18-3x19 fix it. Cami returned to the compound instead of staying at her apartment after rescuing Klaus. When the Mikaelsons find her place ransacked the next morning, they realize what could have been...
Relationships: Hayley Marshall & Camille O'Connell, Hayley Marshall/Elijah Mikaelson (implied), Jackson Kenner/Hayley Marshall (past), Klaus Mikaelson/Camille O'Connell (implied)
Series: s3x19+ AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890898
Kudos: 20





	A Change of Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Can also be found on [tumblr](https://aeruthien.tumblr.com/tagged/my+writing).

“…It doesn’t change how she feels.”

Hayley glances at Elijah before striding out of the room, leaving the two brothers to think about what she said, while trying to push the words out of her own mind. They have hit closer to home than she intended.

“It doesn’t change how she feels? Really?”

Hayley’s freezes as Cami steps out from the shadows. Gasping, she presses a hand against her chest.

“Please don’t do that again,” she says breathlessly.

“Sorry.”

Cami looks away and shuffles her feet.

“My apartment does not feel as safe as it used to,” she admits. Her voice catches, and she swallows.

Hayley places her hand on Cami’s arm, secretly relieved. After they had rescued Klaus from Lucien and incapacitated Aurora, Hayley had urged Cami to come with them, fully aware that Cami would be Lucien’s next target. Cami had refused, and Hayley hadn’t had the energy to force her.

“Lucien can’t get to you here,” Hayley reassures.

Anger and frustration flash over Cami’s face.

“Why does he even care in the first place? Why couldn’t they just leave us alone?!”

“You know the answer to that question, love.”

Klaus steps out of the shadows behind Hayley. He has cleaned himself up, re-establishing the powerful image of the Original Hybrid, but his shoulders are drawn tight and he looks more tired than Hayley has ever seen him. Cami swallows, and clutches her bag close as if it could protect her against the world.

“There is room for you, if you wish to stay.”

Klaus glances at Hayley before he stalks away, head low. 

"Come on,” Hayley says gently, linking her arm with Cami’s.

The spare room is cold, so Hayley turns up the heating while Cami sits down on the bed. Hayley had still been living in the apartment across the street with Jackson when Cami moved into the compound for those few days. It seemed like a lifetime ago, that fleeting moment of happiness when they were all gathered together beneath the Christmas tree.

Cami looks around the room and chuckles nervously.

“I haven’t been in here since I turned,” she says, her voice trembling. Hayley settles down next to her, sinking into the soft matress. She runs her hands over the flowers embroidered on the sheets.

“Hayley, what I said back then, after I… you know. I really did not mean it.”

Hayley closes her eyes. “When I turned into a hybrid, I thought I would go crazy,” she admits. “I took it out on everything and everyone. So… Can’t really blame you.”

“You know,” Cami says, “I thought about it. Before. What it would be like, to be a vampire.”

She shakes her head. “I thought I had it all figured out. The bloodlust, the heightened senses. The dubious morality.”

She takes a deep breath. "I told myself that that was what attracted me to him. The idea that I could fix him. It’s how I justified to myself that I could love a monster.“

Hayley stares out of the window. She can’t see the apartment from this room, but she knows it is there. The apartment which she had shared with a good man, a perfect man. A man who every sane woman would choose.

"And now you are the monster,” she whispers.

Cami stands. “You know, Vincent is right. All of this bloodshed, all of this pain. For what?”

“You can’t stop loving someone just because you want to,” Hayley says. She swallows, remembering Elijah’s words. “It doesn’t work,” she murmurs.

Cami looks down. “It would make things easier, though, wouldn’t it?” she says.

Hayley remains silent. She had met a few vampires who had turned of their humanity, their capability to feel pain or love. Neither existence seemed particularly appealing.

And nothing would change what she had learned today when seeing Klaus on his knees, bound to the rack in Lucien’s penthouse.

The Mikaelsons are no longer invincible. 

* * *

The next morning, Hayley is greeted with drawn faces at the breakfast table. None of them seems to have slept any, and Klaus is pacing back and forth. His angry shouts can be heard even before she sees them. Elijah is watching his brother like a hawk, ready to intervene, and Freya is sitting at the table, her shoulders hunched.

“What’s going on?” Hayley asks, breaking through Klaus’ rant. He turns to her with a snarl on his face, but doesn’t answer. 

“Camille’s home was destroyed last night,” Elijah says instead. “They found it ransacked this morning.”

A cold wave washes over her, her suspicions solidified. “What?”

“It was Lucien,” Klaus snarls. “I will rip him…”

The four of them look up at a sound at the top of the stairs. Cami is looking down on them, her eyes wide. For a moment, they stare at her, the possibility of her death filling them all with dread.

Cami stumbles down the stairs, and Hayley approaches her. Without a word, she pulls her into a hug. She can’t imagine a world without Cami, without her care, without her wisdom and without her kindness. It would have been a loss none of them would have been able to recover from.

She pulls away, and turns towards the Mikaelsons.

“It’s time we end this.”


End file.
